The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not repairing streetlighting. There is insufficient injustice caused to Ms X.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council has failed to replace the lightbulb in the streetlamp outside her property. She says she feels vulnerable not having lighting as she uses the pavement regularly to walk her dogs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says the light outside her property stopped working 8 months ago and complains the Council has failed to replace the bulb. The Council says it is working to replace all streetlamps with LED lights and therefore it is only carrying out emergency repairs to current streetlamps.
Ms X says the pavement outside her property is uneven and the lack of light could cause people to trip. She says she takes her dogs out in the evening and has been worried she might trip and hurt herself. The injustice Ms X is complaining about has not occurred she has only experienced worry about the possibility. This is not a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman